And with just 11 episodes left in this show’s entire run, that feels like an absolutely baffling thing to spend time on

To its credit, I did find the whole thing slightly easier to enjoy on a rewatch

I think there is a misunderstanding of the show. Star Trek isn't an 8 episode high stakes drama. An episode isn't wasted if the crew gets into puppet hijinks, that's the episode, that's the story, that's the point.

The reviewer even accepts that they enjoyed it more once they realized it was silly fun. Once they stopped expecting something the show was never trying to be.

Now I don't fully blame the reviewer. Star Trek has strayed far from its roots. When you only have 8-10 episodes, you compare it to other shows with 8-10 episodes. Star Trek Discovery, the show it spun off from, was exactly that. But the fun of Stranger New Worlds is that it isn't that, it's closer to the older Trek.

Now is Strange New Worlds a little bit too silly at times? Probably. But is it still good? Yes.

Sure this season is a bit too checkboxy, each episode is a trope/style. Dinosaurs and Martians, Horror, The Hangover, Noir and now Puppets. The rest of the season is going to be more of the same, the synopsis of each is available online and you can probably guess the episode theme from them. The fun is seeing how it will all shake out.

It might have been fun goofy side step, but there have been too many gimmick-y episodes.

I was unable to watch the black and white "film noir" episode and now this.

But It's still better than going back to the gorn posession and ancient evil souls stuff.

they said they rushed season 3 and season 4 would be better but it’s even worse. completely empty garbage.